Order of the Silent Prayer
The Order of the Silent Prayer is a unique Order Militant of the Adeptus Sororitas based on the remote Shrine World Arverniens in the far eastern Segmentum Ultima. At the far edge of the Imperium where the Emperor's light barely reaches, the Order of the Silent Prayer stands as a beacon of hope for the penitent, and a shadow of fear for the Heretic. Many among the Ecclesiarchy, as well as their fellow Sisters of Battle, commonly show hesitation about working with the members of the Order of the Silent Prayer due to their remote location. History The Order of the Silent Prayer was founded at the eastern edge of the Imperium in the Segmentum Ultima in order to keep an eye on the less policed areas of the Imperium. At these fringe worlds dangers are many and help is limited. While the exact circumstances around their founding and establishment on Arvernies is known only to those in the Order and most are incapable of speaking. Saint Siron What is well known in the local sectors is the legend of their patron saint, Siron the Quiet. Siron was a Sister of Battle who was born mute who still managed to prove her faith sufficiently to join the Adeptus Sororitas. On the world of Feric-2, a recently settled Agri-world, a powerful Alpha psyker emerged who was powerful enough to attract Siron's Sororitas Commandery as well as a nearby Eldar Craftworld. Arriving they found the planet engulfed in lightning and firestorms, unable to control his power and with no training he had been easy prey for the Daemons of chaos. However, the daemons had underestimated the psykers strength of will and while the daemons were able to plague his mind and drive him mad, they were unable to possess him. His powers wildly out of control, the Sororitas were attacked by farming machinery brought to life by his power, twisted and dangerous, while also dealing with sudden storms and blazing infernos of warp-fire. Long before the sisters even reached him they were nearly all wiped out by a sudden explosion of warp fire and shrapnel when a animated tractor exploded. Siron was the only survivor due to being at the back of the group and was shielded by her sisters. On her own Siron would have died soon if not for the intervention of a Force of Craftworld Eldar who arrived because the Psychic backlash of the psykers insanity was affecting their Craftworld. With the unlikely aid of the Eldar Siron was able to make it all the way to the epicenter of the power where the psyker stood screaming. As a Eldar ranger took aim to end the psyker's suffering, a sudden surge of psychic power through the warp from the man incapacitated the more warp sensitive Eldar leaving Siron alone to confront the mad psyker. Walking towards him, her stoic silence seemed to somehow calm the psyker and the warp fire that surrounded him died down allowing her to reach him. Without a trace of emotion she drew her bolt pistol and killed the rouge psyker with a single shot to the head ending the storms and infernos and restoring peace to the Agri-world. Ascending to become a Living Saint, Saint Siron would be apart of founding the Shrine World Arverniens and the Sisters of Battle that would follow in her footsteps. Over the millennia she would continue to return to aid her Sisters in their hour of greatest need. Missions The Order of the Silent Prayer is actually based in a series of different headquarters called Missions (which differ from the regular Sororitas organization known as a Mission). The idea being that this way, even if one is destroyed the others can continue the duty of the Order of maintaining the faith of the God-Emperor in their sector. Each Mission is based around safeguarding a Holy Relic or the tomb of a Saint and is named for the planet it is built upon. Active Missions * Mission San Averniens - The original Mission and considered the spiritual home of all the Sisters of the Order. There is located the Tomb of Saint Siron where the Saint was laid to rest before her eventual Resurrection. * 'Mission Las Biquen '- Based on the Industrial World Biquen, the Mission here was the first to make use of the unique Sisters Umbra. The Mission here was founded for the protection of the sacred sword Spirit Burner, one of the few rare weapons capable of permanently slaying the Neverborn. * 'Mission Rosenanna '- Smallest of the active Missions, Roseanna is based on the sectors only Cardinal World. The Sisters of this Mission mostly serve to protect various prominent Ecclesiarchy members. The Sisters here guard the tomb of Saint Leta. * 'Mission San Illiana '- Originally just another Mission, the Mission on Illiana has swelled in size after the destruction of the Mission La Cali was destroyed by a Night Lords Warband. The Surviving sisters and the relics they saved were taken in by the Mission San Illiana making it the Largest of the current Missions. It safeguards the Sacred Relics, the Tapestry of Saint Anias and the Coat of Serenity. Oaths The Sororitas of the Order of the Silent prayer seek to emulate their patron Saint Siron. Part of this is their oath of silence which they take extremely seriously. While some choose to retain their voice in order to help communicate with other Imperial Forces, many choose to show their devotion by having their vocal cords surgically removed. Those who chose to merely not speak however often get the high ranked position due to their more capable communication skills. Due to this oath, the Sisters mainly communicate through numerous forms of sign language, including Astartes battle signs. However, unknown to many, the Sisters of the Order of the Silent Prayer actually typically take several oaths in their service. Their silence making much of them unknown to most of the rest of the Imperium. Oaths range from the typical, such as oaths to slay a hated heretic or traitor, to more unusual oaths such as the Oath of Darkness that Sisters Umbra take. Each Sister is allowed to take up to three oaths other than the Oath of silence. The exact wording of each oath is inscribed into a plate of their armor (typically shoulder or forearm) where it will serve as a constant reminder. If the Oath is one that can be fulfilled, such as to slay a certain traitor, then once it is done the etching will be filled in with silver to mark it as such. Organization The Order of the Silent Prayer is organized into 4 Missions currently, each acting in loose association with each other. The size of the Missions vary over time, (the largest currently has nearly 1,300 while the smallest has only 250), and each recruit from the local Schola Progenium. Currently they number altogether a total of 3,400 Sisters of Battle. While that may seem numerous compared to other minor Orders, the Order of the Silent Prayer is so far out on the Imperium's edge that they must keep watch over several other Sectors as well as their own. At the Order's largest it numbered nearly 8,000 but the increasing war of the 41st Millennium has whittled away at their numbers. Sisters Umbra In the far east of Segmentum Ultima where the sisters are based, there is little by way of forces to enforce the Imperium's rule. With a small battlefleet and a few Astra Militum regiments serving as the primary military force to protect from potential threats from the Halo Stars, the Tau empire and the Ferrobel. The few Arbities this far out are hard pressed to enforce order, and many places have no presence at all. With virtually no Astartes presence in these remote sectors and sub-sectors, the Soroitas of the Order of the Silent Prayer serve as the scalpel to the Astra Militum's hammer. However they are too few to maintain any serious presence on dozens of Imperial worlds and colonies, and so they have enacted the unusual rank of Sisters Umbra Sisters Umbra are detached from the order and will spend months, or even years living on the various Imperial worlds within the Orders bounds. Their job is to blend in and infiltrate the various societies in order to keep a watch for signs of heresy, mutation, or xenos activity. If any is detected, the Sister Umbra will contact the Order to come and purge the problem, or even call in Imperial Guard forces if the threat is bad enough. Armed with only a concealed Forgiveness pattern bolt pistol, it is not an envied job and those who take on the mission are treated by their sisters with a mixture of respect and suspicion. Indeed it is rare for a sister to be on any individual world for more than a solar year, and they must undergo harsh purification rites in between or when rejoining the main Order as exposure to such elements and long periods of isolation from the Order risk corruption. Many Sisters Umbra upon returning to the Order choose to serve for a period as Sisters Repentia as they inevitably could not keep to their vows of silence while infiltrating the Imperial colonies. Armory The Sisters of the Silent Prayer rely heavily on individual mobility and so tend to eschew heavier weapons. Double pistol or pistol and CQC (close quarters combat) weapon combinations are common, with specialists using Combi-Bolters or the Condemner Crossbolt. Unique to their order is the Forgiveness pattern bolt pistol, a silenced bolt pistol similar to the Stalker pattern bolt pistol used by the Space Wolves. Only carrying 6 rounds and having been designed for it's small size and swiftness of draw, it is generally used to execute rouge psykers, though it can be used as a backup weapon if need be, every Sister will be trained to use and will be equipped with one. When they need to strike in force, they do have access to a number of armored vehicles including the Soroitas Rhino, the Exorcist tank, Penitent engines, as well as the Trinity variant of the Legion Tank. Relics The Sisters of the Silent Prayer maintain a number of sacred relics within their Missions. * Spirit Burner - ''Kept within a special containment chamber, the sacred sword ignites any warp based energy it comes into contact with into a holy golden flame, including the wielder's soul. Any who use the sword inevitably die from their soul burning away leaving them a empty husk. However for those whose will and soul are strong enough to use the sword for an extended period of time before they die, the sword is an incredibly powerful weapon. Most famously it has been used to kill daemons permanently as the sword burns away their warp essence. While it has never been used to fight a Greater Daemon, it could in theory kill one provided it was kept in contact long enough. * ''Tapestry of Saint Anias - A tapestry of the famous saint, and supposedly containing strands of her hair, it is brought as a banner into the harshest of battles where the sight of it inspires faith and fury in all that behold it. * Coat of Serenity ''- The blessed raiment provides a powerful protection from the Neverborn making them invisible to warp creature while suppressing the emotions of the wearer forcing them into a perpetual state of serenity while they wear it. Doctrine Being based on the farthest east Sector of the Imperium, the Order of the Silent Prayer sees itself as the Representatives of the Emperor in the distant sections of the Galaxy. Because of their remoteness they rarely are visited by Inquisitors and the worlds they watch over mostly have little interaction with the wider Imperium, with the exception of the Agri-worlds. As a result they are forced to watch for any sign of Heresy among the Imperial Citizens with little support beyond the local PDF's (Planetary Defense Force), if the planet even has them. Calm the Witch The Sisters faith in their Patron combined with their silence creates an aura of calm about them. Their absolute faith in the Emperor and their sisters means that even in the fiercest of combat they are able to function as a team flawlessly with little to no communication. As a group their faith mimics the power of their Patron in that it calms the warp. To a rouge psyker, their presence calms the emotions and drives away the presence of warp predators leading many rouge psykers to instinctively trust them which aids them in executing the rouge psyker. Many sanctioned psykers and even Astartes Librarians note that the presence of the Order of the Silent Prayer as well as Living Saints from the Order seems to weaken the power of Daemons of Chaos (though in truth, they don't weaken psychic power, but merely suppress dangerous emotions fueling them). Of the Order, they teach hatred of the witch above all else, Astropaths and Navigators are reluctantly tolerated and only Librarians of the Adeptus Astartes do they acknowledge as having the right to exercise their power. When it comes to Sanctioned psykers among the Imperial Guard they often will refuse to fight alongside regiments that employ them, and it is not unheard of for a Sister of the Silent Prayer to execute Sanctioned psykers on sight leading to conflict with the regiments. Suffer the Eldar While the Sisters of battle teach hatred of the alien and to kill them on sight, the Order of the Silent Prayer does have one strange exception; Craftworld Eldar. Many outside the order believe this to be because of the aid Saint Siron received from a Craftworld. Regardless, their tolerance extends only to those they know to be from a Craftworld, and who are not work at cross purposes with them. Exodite Eldar, Eldar Corsairs, and the Dark Eldar will still suffer their silent wrath as well as any that actively oppose the Imperium. Notable Engagements * '''Frothary Crusade (553.M38)-' A crusade undertaken by Astra Militarum forces to quell rebellions in the edges of Segmentum Ultima, the Sisters of the Silent Prayer would join the Guard in reclaiming the worlds for the Imperium. During a battle on an unnamed mining colony, one of the leaders of the rebellious factions turned out to be a high level rouge psyker. When things looked their bleakest Saint Siron appeared to aid the beleaguered Sisters. this would be the first appearance of Saint Siron as a Living Saint. Notable Sisters * 'Saint Siron-' Patron Saint of the Order of the Silent Prayer and Living Saint. Appears to aid the Order in it's time of need, especially when dealing with powerful psykers. Unlike other Living Saints, the only power Siron has shown, other than Resurrection, is the ability to weaken or even cancel out others warp powers. * 'Sister Cathrine-' A Sister who fought alongside not one but three first founding Astartes chapters in the Segmentum Ultima; the Salamanders, Ultramarines, and Blood Angels. Her Valor in battle was so great that the Blood Angels and Ultramarines still have stories of her and view her as a Sororitas to match an Astartes. * 'Saint Leta-' In 176.M41 the Order of the Silent Prayer encountered a Alpha-grade rouge psyker on Koos Hive world in Hive 5 who had gone mad and whose power was destroying the Hive. Soon they realized that they were not alone, that forces of the Thousands Sons Traitor Legion were also trying to reach the psyker, for what purpose the Order did not know, but they opposed them and endeavored to beat them to the psyker. Even with the aid of the Living Saint Siron, the Sororitas would have never made it if not for the sacrifice of a Sister Leta who managed to lure a portion of the Thousand Sons into a Chamber deep in the Hive before collapsing it on them all. Though she died in the process she managed to trap/kill enough of the Traitor marines that the rest of her sisters could drive off the remainder before slaying the rouge psyker. Order Colors Like many other Sisters of Battle, the Order of the Silent Prayer makes use of white and gold as colors of purity and devotion. The purple in their armor is to signify their distance from the heart of the Imperium. They are so near to the Halo region that the light of the Astronomicon is faint, even for the best of Navigators. The black around the mouth and throat indicate the Oath of silence that the Sisters take. Quotes About Add your own Category:Imperium Category:Adepta Sororitas Category:Adeptus Ministorum